is attacked, and commenced to defend it, telling us how her father's second wife, when he went "on a mission," took charge of, fed, and clothed the children of his first wife (her mother) and many other things to show us (the unbelieving Gentiles) how advantageous it was sometimes for a man to have several wives. The "church doctrine" must be upheld though every noble prompting of the gentle heart rose up in arms against it, and the possibility of a personal application being thrust out of sight. B. was a small-sized man, and his wife ended the talk with the quaint remark that "what little there was of him she wanted herself," which was greeted with a hearty laugh of approbation, and we always renewed our acquaintance with Mrs. B. on our fishing trips with pleasure.

I have remarked that one of the characteristics of the Mormon population as a body is their extreme ignorance. This feature in the Mormon people has been taken advantage of by their leaders, many of whom are very far from being ignorant. They have skilfully directed such education as is given in the Territory to their own ends, and by a system of clerical instruction they are leading the minds of the rising generation, as they lead their irrigating ditches, to fructify only such seed as they themselves have planted. This is done by a system of schools, not only under charge of the leaders of “the church," but supplied with textbooks prepared and printed in the Territory, and it is doubtful if the same amount of ignorance can be found over the same extent of country in any civilized region of the world.

Once, whilst on a fishing excursion in the Valley of the Timpañogos, a fine large stream, which empties into Lake Utah from the eastward, and on the bank of which is situated Heber City, quite a large flourishing town, my camp was visited by several boys, who, boy like, were ready to give us all the information we wanted in regard to the deepest and best trout-holes in the stream. We soon got into free conversation with them, and one of them, a boy of twelve or fourteen years of age, was asked if he knew who was President of the United States. His stolid look of ignorance showed that he was entirely "at sea," and I asked him if he knew "who General Grant was?" He had heard me addressed as "General," and replied, "No; not unless you are him!" When asked if he knew who governed the country he lived in, he frankly confessed he did not "unless it was Brother Brigham!" and when told that Brigham Young was not even a subordinate official, he received the information with a smile of incredulity, which said, as plainly as words could say it, that he knew better than that, and that we were a party of " ungodly Gentiles," trying to lead him astray. Is it any wonder that in a community so governed, where all instruction is given by

"the church," that all true education is at fault, and that ignorance should prevail.

Of course such a state of things cannot exist forever, and the march of civilization, as typified by railroads, telegraphs, a free press, and the influx of an outside population, will in time effect a change. Already have these begun to have their effect, but the human mind, like water, will not run up hill if left to itself. It has to be pumped up by machinery. That pumping process is now going forward in Utah.

Until the advent of the railroad into the Territory the Mormon people was a close corporation, in which men held property and even life itself at the mercy of the authorities of "the church.” This is a fact notoriously denied by the leaders of "the church," but known to be true by every one who has had opportunity to make observations. Innumerable cases of cold-blooded murders of "Gentiles" obnoxious to "the church" are known to have occurred, and in not one single instance has the perpetrator been brought to punishment so far as I can recall.

The wholesale butchery, nineteen years ago, of the men, women, and children belonging to an emigrant train, so far from resulting in bringing to justice the perpetrators of it, was persistently attributed by the newspapers and leaders in "the church" to Indians, and for long years every obstacle was thrown in the way of any attempt to investigate the matter. Military and civil officers of the United States visited the scene of the massacre at Mountain Meadows soon after the occurrence, and obtained evidence which settled the question beyond a doubt that Mormons and Mormon leaders. were the pepetrators of the foul outrage; and if the question as to whether or not the act was "counselled" by the highest authorities of "the church" is still an open one not yet settled by positive proof, their guilty knowledge is beyond dispute, and the damaging fact remains that for nineteen years not only has no attempt been made by the Mormon authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of the foulest outrage ever committed in a country professing to be civilized, but every effort has been put forth to shield the guilty, and every obstacle thrown in the way of a judicial investigation. These efforts have been successful for nineteen long years, during which the blood of the innocent victims has been calling for vengeance in vain from one of the far-off recesses of the Rocky Mountains. But last year the principal leader of the band of murderers, a bishop in "the church," was brought before a jury of his peers, and-convicted? No, for a portion at least of his "peers" were Mormons like himself, and the jury declined to convict, as Mormon juries uniformly decline to convict, at the nod of "the church," which governs everything in this world and the next. But this VOL. IV.-44

year another trial takes place, and as I write one of those pumping machines, the telegraph, which is forcing the Mormon mind to a higher level, flashes all over the land the intelligence that John D. Lee, the active leader of that murderous band nineteen years ago, has been convicted of the crime and sentenced to death, and, strange freak of all, a Mormon paper now speaks of the condemned criminal as the "arch fiend." Is this an evidence of a returning sense of justice and virtue, or a result of some occult trick in the policy of the head of "the church?" Time and further developments resulting from other trials to take place only can show. Inasmuch as so sudden a change to justice and virtue in the course of a single year is not probable, it is more than suspected that the conviction of Lee is due to church "counselling." This view of the case naturally brings us to the question as to how long a system like that of the Mormons can exist after the active mind which governs the whole is removed. If a ship at sea is entirely dependent upon a single man to guide her course, the removal of that one insures her destruction when tempests assail her. In despotisms men are governed too much. As they are not permitted to act except at the nod and beck of some particular person, all individuality is lost, and men cease even to think for themselves. When, therefore, the one person disappears, the many suffer and are literally "at sea" without a rudder when the storm comes, which it sooner or later does to all human institutions. A community governed by free institutions is comparatively free from such dangers, and no one man is an absolute necessity. In that case the community governs itself. Whether well or illy governed rests with itself, and if ordinary freedom and intelligence prevail the chances are that it will be well governed, and on such sound principles that the presence or absence of any particular individual will be of little account, however valuable for the time being, and the system of government will continue from one generation to the next like a well-regulated, smoothly-working machine.

All who have had an opportunity of observing the workings of government in Utah know that the Mormon community is not such a one as I have described. It is undeniable that the governing principle has resided until very recently in one man, and it is equally undeniable that in many things Brigham Young has governed well. His enemies say his government has been and is based entirely upon selfish principles. However this may be, the general results in many respects have been beneficial. The population as a class is industrious and thrifty, and by its labor has converted an immense extent of barren territory into blooming and productive fields, and this has been done frequently under the most disadvantageous and discouraging circumstances. The people too

are virtuous, as they understand virtue, and are generally honest, except when led astray by their leaders. To hear the "rank and file," taking their cue from their leaders, gravely asserting the superior virtue of the Mormon population over all the rest of mankind, would be amusing were it not so serious a matter, and had those who make the claim any experience whatever which would enable them to judge of what the remainder of the world regard as virtue. The virtues impressed upon the Mormon people by Brigham Young's overweening influence are of a peculiar nature, and in some respects not such as meet with indorsement from civilized mankind. That he has so impressed his peculiar ideas upon his people is an unquestionable proof, not only of his vast influence, but demonstrates that in point of intellect he is far above the average.

Since the death of Brigham Young, which occurred since this paper was written, no other man has since been “raised up,” in Mormon phraseology, to fill his place, and it is more than doubtful if the Mormon exists who can fill it. For some time previous to his death, a report was current, which was probably well founded, that he was making strenuous efforts to so arrange matters in "the church" as to insure his mantle being bequeathed to one of his sons. But death's summons came suddenly, and before matters could be so arranged; and the church is now, I believe, governed by "The Council of Twelve," no one of whom has yet demonstrated that he possesses the intellect, nerve, tact, and unscrupulous character of the man who will go down in history as the great leader of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young.

TH

THE INTERNAL CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

HE present internal condition of Russia is attracting equal if not even greater interest than her external policy in the recent past excited. Reports from various sources, both numerous and trustworthy, disclose a state of things truly appalling, and one which takes not a few in this country, if not in Europe, outside of Russia, entirely by surprise. The causes of this surprise in the United States are to be found to a great extent in self-interest and in the influence of a venal press in systematically glossing over, if not entirely suppressing, facts which, if duly considered, would at least have moderated, if not dispelled, the extravagantly favorable opinion commonly entertained by the American public respecting the policy of the Russian Government, and the actual degree of progress in education and industrial pursuits of the Russian people. To this must be added the fact, which cannot be concealed, humiliating as it may be to acknowledge it, that the people of the United States are idolatrous worshippers of material power. With them success is a sure guarantee of popular approval, no matter what be the means by which that success is attained. The glamour of strength and power and inexhaustible resources, which were generally attributed to the Russian Government, blinded the eyes and deluded. the judgment of the great majority of the people of the United States in regard to the real condition of Russia. Then there was another reason for prevailing delusions in regard to that country, which applies to Europe as well as to this country, though perhaps in less degree. We refer to the fact that it has been customary to include Russia in the family of civilized, enlightened nations. It is no wonder, therefore, that the public mind is startled by recent disclosures which seem to throw us back, when we consider the inward significance of the facts lately made public, into the ages of Asiatic despotism.

Until very recently the idea of political stability has been associated with Russia, and apparently not without good reasons. When the French Revolution burst forth a hundred years ago, the spirit that animated it overleaped the boundaries of France, and in the short space of fifty years, from 1789 to 1849, it caused almost every throne in Europe to tremble and totter. In the midst of the general apprehension and dismay Russia alone apparently remained unaffected by the disturbing causes. The Czar stood forth before us as the sole representative of stability. His dominions seemingly were beyond reach of the revolutionary cyclone which swept over all the rest of Europe. His person alone seemed invested with the unassailable, imperturbable majesty which is the traditional